It’s incredibly important to have a system when it comes to monitoring your backlinks because things can get so confusing. Because creating a link profile is so important when it comes to ranking well on a Google search results page, companies and individuals are finding tons of creative ways to earn a variety of links—infographics, forums and comments, cross-linking, social media networks, contributing guest articles, etc. It’s best to start creating a strategy for monitoring your links early so you can benefit later as your backlinks start to add up.

Keeping everything straight is a great way to find new link building opportunities as well as make sure that no spam websites are pointing back to your site in any way (Google will bring your rankings down if you’re connected to spam-type websites). You want to make sure you have authoritative links, and you want to make sure that the links you have earned remain active, and the Monitor Backlinks tool is a way to make that happen.

How the Monitor Backlinks Tool Works

You sign up here first and then will have access to your account and your personal dashboard. On the dashboard you will have the option to add links or domains. You have two different options when it comes to adding your links, which are shown in the screenshot below:

If you choose the option where you connect with Google Analytics, you’ll also be prompted to add in your competition. This is a really great feature and it’s all automated, so you don’t have to do much work (side note: it can take up to 24 hours to gather all of the data). Once you choose what you want to do, you’ll have all of the different options discussed above and you’ll be able to see them all on your dashboard. As you can see from my sample dashboard below, I can filter all of my links to make things easier and even export the links if I wanted to back up all of the information:

If neither of these options work for you, you can scroll down the page just a bit and see three other options: Check your backlinks for free, import links from a CSV file, or bookmarklet (adding from the browser).

Monitor Backlinks Pricing Options

Prices vary from $19 to $99 per month with the option to create a custom package with a custom price. The particular trial that I used was the premium version, or the version that allows you to monitor the most backlinks, because it gives you access to everything. This package typically costs $99 per month, but you can try it for 30 days free. This is what I did at first and the plan I’m going to stick with after the 30 day trial.

The Monitor Backlinks Verdict: Easy to Use with Excellent and Relevant Options

First, this tool was incredibly easy to use. As you can see from the dashboard screenshot above, you have filters you can use that don’t take you to another page or leave you feeling like you can’t find your data. It’s really all there, in one place, and I know exactly how to see it and exactly how to add more domains and more likes (a big red “+Add” button is just what I need when worrying about something as confusing as backlinks).

Second, because I can connect with my Google Analytics, I really felt like I was able to get a clear picture of all the links without missing a beat. It wasn’t my responsibility or the tool’s responsibility to find the links—it was Google Analytics, which is something I trust. Overall I felt incredibly confident using this tool and I know that there are tons of possibilities the more I add to it.

Lastly when it comes to pricing, I would say that the tool is priced well. You have many different options and different plans (more than the usual 3), and I don’t think many would really need to monitor an unlimited amount of domains, so that brings down the price. In comparison to other tools of its kind, this one is definitely the best I’ve seen and something every serious link builder, guest blogger, or SEO should have in his/her toolbox.

A Few Issues with the Monitor Backlinks Tool

The thing I found a little bit confusing was the dropdown menus at the top of the screen, one labeled “dashboard” and one labeled “SEO tools.” It took me a while to realize that these even existed, and when you click on an option it takes you to an entirely new page that might be a bit confusing. Almost everything is in one place except for these few choices. Below is a screenshot of the choices you have that you could easily miss:

You also have a credit system for the Advanced Backlink Checker tool that doesn’t seem to be discussed much. This is something else that I missed, and I was left confused about how I earned credits and why I wanted them. I got an email from the CEO saying I earned one credit, and this left me confused. You can find your credits under your profile picture in the top right hand corner, and when you click it you see this screen:

Apparently you buy credits, but I wasn’t really aware that this was an option so I had to spend some time deciding if the Advanced Backlink Checker tool was really worth it. In the end, I just felt like any type of credit system was making things disorganized.

Cool Extra Features Monitor Backlinks Offers

What makes a tool go from great to absolutely amazing are the little extra things that the company does to help make your life easier. I found a few of these little hidden gems as I’ve gone through and used the tool:

There is a live chat option at the bottom right-hand corner of your screen so you can ask any question, any time.

CEO Razvan Girmacea actually emailed me as soon as I started my premium version trial to let me know who he was and how I can contact him if I need anything. This isn’t something I’ve found with any other tool, so it was a great feature.

If you post your Monitor Backlinks custom link on your Facebook or Twitter page, the company will actually give you $25 for each user that signs up for a premium account.

If you’re interested in getting started with a free trial of Monitor Backlinks, visit this link. Here you will find pricing information and be able to sign up in a matter of seconds. Once you do sign up, come back and let us know what you think of the tool.

I founded Search Engine Marketing Group in December 2005. More recently I co-founded viralcontentbuzz.com. which is the free platform that helps bloggers generate REAL "social buzz" on their best content. Feel free to follow me on Google+

Last week, I was browsing through some Search Engine Journal posts from last year when I came across the following post by Ann Smarty – SheerSEO : Another Way To Track Your Google Rankings. After reading her post and noticing that the tool had some very interesting features, I decided that I wanted to try it out for myself. Although Ann wrote a great post, it was written nearly a year ago, so I thought it would be useful to share my more recent experience with

If you want to use this tool to provide information to your clients, you can also take advantage of their white label feature, which allows you customize and brand the information that you show to your clients:

In Ann’s original review, she noted several shortcomings of SheerSEO. However, it looks like they have responded to her constructive criticism. Below are the shortcomings that Ann noted in her original post, along with information about any responseSheerSEO has made to them:

-direct links to the aggregated data: There are now links to these pages in the Position? column

-more backlink data: Although their Backlinks Watchdog feature could come in handy, I agree that this is one area where the tool could still be improved

-more sorting and filtering options: Currently, you can now select the Date Range, Search Engine and Search Term on the Historical Positions page

-the ability to track multiple projects: It looks like SheerSEO solved this issue by introducing a Master Account feature

One other main difference between when Ann reviewed SheerSEO and now is that while it was completely free to use when Ann reviewed it, a new pricing structure has been introduced for the tool. However, not only can you use the tool without paying for a full three months, but their paid options after the trial period are quite reasonable, as you can see from the table below:

After my experience with this SEO tool, I feel comfortable recommending that all of our readers sign up for a trial account. Given the fact that you can useSheerSEO for a full three months before paying a single cent, you should have no problem deciding if this tool fits your needs during that period of time.

When you try out SheerSEO for yourself (or if you have done so already), be sure to leave a comment with your experience for us all to read!

I founded Search Engine Marketing Group in December 2005. More recently I co-founded viralcontentbuzz.com. which is the free platform that helps bloggers generate REAL "social buzz" on their best content. Feel free to follow me on Google+

If you read Internet marketing and SEO blogs on a regular basis, you undoubtedly come across posts about free SEO tools quite often. While there are a lot of great free tools on the Internet for SEOs, I have recently noticed that almost all of these posts profile the same core set of free tools (such as SEO for Firefox). Since you most likely already use the most popular free SEO tools, I want to look at five SEO tools today that are very useful, but simply don’t get as much attention as they deserve:

Google Insights Bookmarklet: While Google Insights can provide very valuable keyword information, you can waste a lot of time switching from one window to another window in order to use Google Insights. To eliminate the need toswitch browser windows , add the Google Insights Bookmarklet to your browser, and anytime you are browsing one of the major search engines (Google, Yahoo or Live), you can instantly access the Insights data for the keyword you were searching with a single click of the bookmarklet.

Social Media Metrics Greasemonkey Plugin for Google Analytics: I know I’m not alone when I say that Google Analytics is one of my favorite analytics packages. Although it’s not perfect, this package can provide you with a significant amount of very useful information. In addition to the information that is already provided, you can increase the data you have at your fingertips by installing the Social Media Metrics Greasemonkey Plugin. As you can see from the screenshot above, this plugin not only adds data for content from all of the major social media websites, but it also adds Yahoo’s backlink data directly for you to see.

I founded Search Engine Marketing Group in December 2005. More recently I co-founded viralcontentbuzz.com. which is the free platform that helps bloggers generate REAL "social buzz" on their best content. Feel free to follow me on Google+